


A rainy day

by Hollow and Merciless (HollowandMerciless)



Category: Gintama
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Love Language, Massage, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Romantic Friendship, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Sweet, everyone needs a hug from time to time, independent woman, is it love - Freeform, thats what friends are for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23752270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowandMerciless/pseuds/Hollow%20and%20Merciless
Summary: It's raining hard, and Ikumatsu is having a quiet, boring day at her shop.On top of that, she hurts herself as she's tidying up.Then, at the end of the day, a dear friend comes in for a bowl of ramen.
Relationships: Katsura Kotarou & Ikumatsu
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	A rainy day

The wind made the rain hit the windows, and with every new gush brown leaves swirled through the street. The shop was empty, but the pots were filled, vegetables chopped, the water boiling in anticipation of any brave customer who would endure the weather and try to find some solace in the warmth of her dishes.

She’s wiped the tables and the countertop a dozen times, and stirs the broth from time to time, immune to its delicious scent. She’s swept the floor already and considers mopping it, then abandons the idea because if anyone comes in, their wet footsteps will ruin the result anyway. She stands on her toes to fetch a stack of bowls that have been sitting on the shelf for too long, and washes them, dries them, puts them back. She overstretches her arm as she does, almost dropping eight bowls, but catches them in time, at the cost of a muscle in her neck. She curses softly, rolls her head back and forth, and massages her shoulder and nape. That’s when she decides to sit down and leaf through a magazine until, hopefully, someone enters her shop.

Despite the weather, customers are coming in that day, although few and far apart. By the time dusk sets in, she’s had five customers, and she doubts if she’ll wait for more to come, or start throwing away the food she can’t keep until tomorrow.

That’s when a cylindrical shadow passes by her window; a huge creature, followed by a person with an umbrella, and she faintly smiles because she recognises them, and a second later the curtains are pulled aside and her friend Katsura follows Elizabeth into the shop.

"You must have been hungry," she says, "braving this weather for a bowl of ramen."

"I’m not here for ramen," Katsura says as he sits down on one of the stools. "But if you can make me soba, I’d be happy." He looks at her in that peculiar way of his, a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"I’m almost closing," she replies. "I’m not making soba this late, but there’s still broth so I can make you both a bowl of ramen."

He agrees, and she gets to work, routinely filling the two bowls, adding an extra egg to both because she doesn’t expect many people to come after them anyway, if any. She smiles professionally as she puts them on the counter, but Katsura notices, and asks her if she’s hurting.

"Just my neck," she says. "I overstretched earlier today."

He’s quiet for a moment and starts eating his noodles. She looks at him, how he closes his eyes for an instant during the first bite, like he always does, and then he’ll say he likes it, as he always does.

But he doesn’t, not this time.

"I…," he stutters. "If you’d allow me, Ikumatsu-dono. I could massage it for you."

She’s lost for words for a moment, and looks at Elizabeth, who stoically continues eating, then back at Katsura. "You could…" She briefly touches her sore neck, makes a decision. "But not now. You could come by after I’ve closed."

"I will," he promises, and so he does, later that night, alone, after she’s turned off the lights in the shop.

"You may come upstairs," she calls. "Please lock the door behind you."

She hears him on the stairs, he knows the way, he’s been here before. She awaits him in her room, and she’s nervous. She’s nervous because this is the first time she’s invited him into her house since that week when they met, and she knows something is different now. His footsteps approach her room, and then his soft, polite voice asks her if he may come in.

"I invited you, of course you may," she says. She wants to look over her shoulder, but that’s the problem; it hurts.

He kneels behind her. "You should have let me do this earlier," he says. And then, softer: "Could you put your hair to one side?"

She does as he asks, and points to where it hurts.

When he gently brushes a few stray hairs away, she closes her eyes. His fingers are warm, and he pulls her clothes aside, baring her shoulder. "Here?"

"Yes," she says, almost breathlessly.

"I’ll be starting gently," he says. "Tell me if it hurts." His fingers caress the skin of her long neck, stroking the sore spot, then pushing and massaging until she hisses between her teeth. He pauses.

"Please, go on," she says.

Katsura continues, leaning in, digging his fingers into the muscles of her neck and shoulder until she gasps for breath.

Don’t stop, she thinks. She’s leaning in to his touch, her eyes still closed, extremely aware of his proximity, his breath on her skin, his fingers examining her neck. It’s warm, and it’s soothing. It feels good, to be touched, she’d almost forgotten that, how good that felt. If he’d kiss her now, she knows she’d probably give in. He’s been kinder to her than most other men, never pushed himself onto her, nor demanded anything. Even now, vulnerable and alone in her own home, her clothes sliding off her shoulder, she feels safe. He makes her feel so.

"Does it hurt?"

"It feels warm," she says, eyes still closed. If she opens them, she knows, the tears will drop. She doesn’t want this to stop, these gentle, strong fingers taking her pain away, not just that pain in her neck, but the pain of being alone for so long, and no one to hold her.

She wants to say it: Katsura, hold me, but she doesn’t, and presses her lips together.

He keeps kneading her neck until it stops hurting, until the warmth spreads from her head to her shoulder. The warmth spreads through her body, too. She bites her lip. _Don’t stop._

But he does. After a while, he stops. "You’re getting tired," he says. "You should go to sleep. I made the blood flow again, after a good night’s rest you should be fine tomorrow."

Her neck is suddenly cold as he removes his hands. Instinctively she pulls up her clothes again.

"I can make your bed for you," he says. "It’s better if you don’t force yourself now."

She doesn’t know if she’s disappointed or not. "Thank you," she says. And then: "You’re too kind."

He doesn’t respond, and instead spreads out her futon for her. He stands up. "I’m going now. Please, sleep, and keep it warm."

"Katsura," she says, looking up. "Thank you."

His eyes meet hers. "I’ll come by tomorrow, if I can."

"Thank you," she whispers again, so soft that he'll probebly not even hear her, and averting her eyes.

"I’m leaving now. Good night. Ikumatsu-dono."

She gets up and quietly follows him to the stairway, leaning against the door frame as she watches him disappear in the dark. Nothing has changed, but somehow, everything has changed.

**Author's Note:**

> There aren't enough Katsumatsu fics, so I might write more, and smuttier too, in the future.   
> This one is just the beginning.


End file.
